


Soft Hearts

by Reda



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: F/M, Fluff, General, Romance, i can get away with calling it fluff, i don't know what else to label this, introspective, kind of, not really - Freeform, so fluff it is, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 06:50:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10893984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reda/pseuds/Reda
Summary: After a battle, Bardock carries Gine on his back and searches for their space pods to return home. In the meantime, things get a little introspective.





	Soft Hearts

~!~

“We're lost.”

“No, we're not,” Gine chirped. “Try that way.”

Bardock looked in the direction she pointed, only seeing more of the same desolate landscape. His team had done a number on the planet. It was ready for sale. Now he just needed to find his way back to his space pod and get home.

Which would have been considerably easier if Gine hadn't shot his scouter to pieces because she was startled by his appearance. Or if either of them had any real sense of direction.

“Stop guessing,” he muttered. “For all you know, that's the direction we came from in the first place.”

Her tail brushed against his as she adjusted her position on his back. “Heh. Maybe.”

Bardock couldn't help but let a half smile cross his mouth. Trapped out in the middle of nowhere and she didn't sound worried at all. Her carefree attitude certainly was something else. He had no idea how she had coped before joining his squad, though. Carefree and softhearted, she didn't really belong on a battlefield in the first place.

Not to mention the condition he had found her in. Limping along, scouter-less, aimless, battered and bruised, but still holding her head high as if in defiance of the powers that be trying to drag her down. At least until she had seen him. Then she'd been all smiles and sleepy giggles.

“You know,” he muttered, picking his feet up to walk in the direction she had chosen. “You probably would have been abandoned if I'd been anyone else.”

“Good thing you're not anyone else then, huh?”

He took a breath and let it out slowly. Her cheek fell to rest on his shoulder near his neck, her hands squeezing into the edges of his armored shoulder pads in an effort to hang on as they walked. Gine may be a Saiyan but she certainly wasn't like the rest of them.

_And you're starting to rub off on me, too._

“Bardock?”

“Hm?”

“Sorry for the trouble.”

His chest ached, as if a part of him actually wanted to comfort her, reassure her. But, no, she _was_ to blame for putting them in this situation. Hopefully, they'd find the pods and then be able to go home. Just to be sent out on another assignment shortly after taking the time to heal. He did want to toughen up his other crew members. Start climbing the ranks. Do the impossible. But with Gine was that really a logical action to take? She was so much weaker, even if she still possessed the fire of most Saiyan females when push came to shove. Still... She wasn't meant for battles. It was risky allowing her into his missions.

_I don't want to lose you_.

“When we get back, Gine,” he said, “I'm going to find something else for you to do. Something safer. Something that keeps you at our home planet.”

_It's strange but…_

He could feel her hum and smile against his neck, her breath a light tickle. “I'd like that.”

_I want to protect you._


End file.
